Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Politics

Well, instead of electing a candidate who has experience in international politics and a lifetime record of public service, y'all have elected an asshole who thinks the whole thing is a joke.  He is, at best, a loose cannon and at worst, a full-blown despot.  He thinks the role of President of the USA is a step down from his gilded tower.

Way to go, America.

We have been lagging, compared to the rest of the world, in the way we look after people...minorities, the disabled, women, children.  We have slipped down well below the level of acceptable, let alone exceptional.  We expect people to work for starvation wages.  We have lousy health care.  We don't care a whole lot about the environment.  Our schools are overcrowded and underfunded, with religious idiots in charge of curricula.  All that is about to get worse.

This election has brought home to me that nearly half the country is comprised of people who never look beyond their tiny miserable lives to see that there is a world out there, filled with infinite promise.  Kind of reminds me of a couple of minor characters in the Narnia books who, when Aslan won the battle and there was a feast, lurked within a shack of their own mental creation, eating crusts and scraps.

When asked why they liked Donald J Trump, the catchphrase during the campaign was, "He speaks his mind."  All I could think of was, "Well, if that's the case, I wish he would shut up!"  He didn't "speak his mind," he spoke the words that his ignorant fans wanted to hear.  He gave permission for them to be assholes, just like him (only not rich).  So now, all these people think it's perfectly all right to be racist, misogynistic, xenophobic bigots.  Some of them probably think doing so will make them rich.

Science is the enemy.  Gimme that old time religion.  Of the christian sort, of course.

So far, Trump has taken several shots at the First Amendment...free speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion.  And I suppose you've seen his cabinet choices...none of them are at all competent for the jobs they are being given, and many have histories of fighting the very departments they have been assigned.  Take Rick Perry (please)...in charge of the Department of Energy...we all remember when he debated four years ago and wanted to abolish three departments...but couldn't remember the third (oops).  Now he's going to be running the department he couldn't remember.  And the rest of them are just as bad.

Then there is this whole Russian hacking debacle.  While there seems to be no doubt that Russian intelligence hacked the DNC, apparently there are some who doubt that installing Trump as a Putin puppet was the objective.  Personally, I can't think of another reason.  "To disrupt the election" seems awfully vague and silly, to me; more along the lines of a fraternity prank.  Installing a puppet leader who will lift the sanctions Obama placed on Russian oil, though...that makes sense.  Not good sense, but sense.

Will the Electoral College step up and do what they were designed to do?  Analysts say not bloody likely.  So it looks like we are stuck with an unpredictable, ineducable asshole at the helm.

I never did like reality TV.

4 comments:

  1. I've been following this whole thing for months now and am appalled at the outcome. I know that this applies to less than half of the electorate (still too many) but the United States has made itself a laughing stock by electing that man. And the VP elect is just as appalling. God help us all. I still hope that it will not happened and have made a personal vow never to give Trump the title as he is utterly unfit to be President.

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    1. Looks like we're stuck with it, Nelly. I have actually thought about committing a crime so I can get deported, but I don't suppose they would deport the kids and grands with me, so that won't work...

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    2. Christmas has got in the way of keeping up with comments and the dread day comes closer. I have noticed trump supporters very quick to take offence when the orange one is criticised.

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  2. Apparently, he's taking on the Freedom of Assembly clause of the First Amendment, too. Not content with trashing Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion, protest permits are hard to get in DC right now. At least, on the Mall.

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